Contact breaker assemblies

ABSTRACT

A contact breaker assembly in which a plate carries a fixed contact, and an insulating heel member mounted for pivotal movement relative to the plate carries a movable contact which is movable into and out of engagement with the fixed contacts. A spring urges the heel member to pivot in a direction to engage the movable contact with the fixed contact. The movable contact is secured to a metal shell which is engaged with the heel member, and the spring is defined by a metal strip, one end of which is engaged in a groove in the heel member. The metal strip and heel member are provided with means to secure the spring and the shell to the heel member.

Inventor William Lawrence Fry Kings Norton, Birmingham, England Appl.No. 810,189 Filed Mar. 25, 1969 Patented Jan. 26, 1971 Assignee JosephLucas (Industries) Limited Birmingham, England a British CompanyPriority Mar. 29, 1968 Great Britain 15,175/68 CONTACT BREAKERASSEMBLIES 3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 200/ 166, 200/ l 9 Int. Cl H0lh 9/00, H0 1 h 9/10 Field of Search200/19, 31, 1661-1, 16688 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS2,211,412 8/1940 Filko 200/19(X) 2,835,755 5/1958 Filko 200/30 3,003,04310/1961 Meyer, Jr. et al. 200/19(X) 3,014,101 12/1961 Gayler 200/303,033,947 5/1962 Johnson 200/166(A)(X) 3,267,243 8/1966 Dotto 200/ 1 66(H) Primary Examiner-11. 0. Jones Attorney-Holman, Glascock, Downing &Seebold ABSTRACT: A contact breaker, assembly in which a plate carries afixed contact, and an insulating heel member mounted for pivotalmovement relative to the plate carries a movable contact which ismovable into and out of engagement with the fixed contacts. A springurges the heel member to pivot in a direction to engage the movablecontact with the fixed contact. The movable contact is secured to ametal shell which is engaged with the heel member, and the spring isdefined by a metal strip, one end of which is engaged in a groove in theheel memberv The metal strip and heel member are provided with means tosecure the spring and the shell to the heel member.

CONTACT BREAKER ASSEMBLIES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This inventionrelates to contact breaker assemblies, for use in ignition distributors,of the kind comprising a plate, a fixed contact carried by the plate, aninsulating heel member mounted for pivotal movement relative to saidplate, a movable contact carried by said heel member and movable intoand 0 out of engagement with the fixed contact. and a spring urging saidheel member to pivot in a direction to engage the movable contact withthe fixed contact.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention, the contact breakerassembly comprising a plate, a fixed contact, means mounting the fixedcontact on the plate, an insulating heel member, means mounting the heelmember for pivotal movement relative to the plate, a movable contact ametal shell engaged with the heel member, said movable contact beingcarried by the metal shell and movable into and out of engagement withthe fixed contact, a spring urging the heel member to pivot in adirection to engage the movablecontact with the fixed contact, saidspring being the form of a metal strip one end of which is engaged in agroove in the heel member, the metal strip being formed adjacent saidone end with a projection which extends through the shell intoengagement with the wall of an aperture in the heel member and therebyserves to secure the spring and the shell to the heel member, and theend of the metal strip remote from said one end being anchored to saidplate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONReferring to the drawings the contact breaker assembly includes anarcuate plate having at one end thereof a hole. The plate is engaged inuse with the timing plate of a distributor and a post 11 extendsupwardly from the timing 'plate through the hole so as to pivotallyinterconnect the plate 10 and the timing plate. The arcuate plate 10 isformed intermediate its ends with an integral upstanding tag 10a onwhich is mounted fixed contact 12 of the assembly.

Pivotally engaged with the post 11 and spaced from the plate 10 by aninsulating washer is a molded insulating heel member 13. The member 13includes a body part 14 of generally rectangular cross section and atone end of the body part 14 is an integral cam follower 15 which extendsgenerally at right angles to the body part 14. At its end remote fromthe cam follower 15 the body part is formed integrally with a pair ofpart circular resilient arms 16 which define a passage the asthroughwhich the post I I extends.

A resilient metal shell 17 of generally inverted U-shaped configurationis engaged as a close fit with the heel member and one of the limbs ofthe shell 17 is extended to form an arm I8 on which movable contact 19of the assembly is mounted.

One end ofa leaf spring 21 is bent back upon itself and at its extremityis provided with an outwardly extending tag 22. The cam follower I5 ofthe heel member 13 defines with the body part I4 a groove 23, and theshell [7 is formed with an aperture 24 which, when the shell 17 isengaged with the member I3, is ali ned with a bore 25 in the part 14olthe member [3.

In or er to assemble the device shown. the shell I7 is first engagedwith the member 13. The spring 2l is, at this stage. straight, and itsfolded-back end is inserted in the groove 23, whereafter the spring 21is bent to its required shape. Bending of the spring causes the part ofthe spring within the groove 23 to move against one side of the groove,and the further bending causes the tag 22 to wedge into the hole 24 andbore 25 to hold the assembly in position. Moreover the portion of thespring 21 adjacent the tag 22 urges the adjacent limb of the shell I7firmly into engagement with the body part I4 of the member I3.

In the modification shown in FIG. 5, the spring 2] is pro vided with abifurcated end defining a pair of arms 26, 27 and the tag 22 extendsfrom the base of the bifurcation. The arms 26, 27 are engaged in thegroove 23 as in the example shown in FIG. 4.

In both arrangements the end of the spring 21 remote from the heelmember 13 is anchored to the arcuate plate 10, and the spring isstressed so as to urge the heel member to pivot in a direction to engagethe movable contact 19, into engagement with the fixed contact I2.

lclaim:

I. A contact breaker assembly comprising a plate, a fixed contact, meansmounting the fixed contact on the plate, an insulating heel member,means mounting the heel member for pivotal movement relative to theplate, a movable contact, a metal shell engaged with the heel member,said movable contact carried by the metal shell and movable into and outof engagement with the fixed contact, a spring urging the heel member topivot in a direction to engage the movable contact with the fixedcontact, said spring in the form of a metal strip one end of which isengaged in a groove in the heel member,

the metal strip formed adjacent said one end with a projection whichextends through the metal shell into engagement with a wall of anaperture in the heel member and thereby serves to secure the spring andthe metal shell to the heel member, and the end of the metal stripremote from said one end anchored to said plate.

2. The assembly as claimed in claim I wherein said one end of the metalstrip is bent back upon itself, with said projection formed at the freeend of the portion of the metal strip which is bent upon the remainderof the strip and the bend interconnect said portion and the remainder ofthe metal strip engaged in said groove in the heel member.

3. The assembly as claimed in claim I wherein the said one end of themetal strip is bifurcated so as to provide arms, the free ends of thearms defined at said one end of the metal strip being engaged in saidgroove in the heel member, and said projection being integral with themetal strip and extending from the metal strip at the root of said arms.

1. A contact breaker assembly comprising a plate, a fixed contact, meansmounting the fixed contact on the plate, an insulating heel member,means mounting the heel member for pivotal movement relative to theplate, a movable contact, a metal shell engaged with the heel member,said movable contact carried by the metal shell and movable into and outof engagement with the fixed contact, a spring urging the heel member topivot in a direction to engage the movable contact with the fixedcontact, said spring in the form of a metal strip one end of which isengaged in a groove in the heel member, the metal strip formed adjacentsaid one end with a projection which extends through the metal shellinto engagement with a wall of an aperture in the heel member andthereby serves to secure the spring and the metal shell to the heelmember, and the end of the metal strip remote from said one end anchoredto said plate.
 2. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said oneend of the metal strip is bent back upon itself, with said projectionformed at the free end of the portion of the metal strip which is bentupon the remainder of the strip and the bend interconnect said portionand the remainder of the metal strip engaged in said groove in the heelmember.
 3. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said one endof the metal strip is bifurcated so as to provide arms, the free ends ofthe arms defined at said one end of the metal strip being engaged insaid groove in the heel member, and said projection being integral withthe metal strip and extending from the metal strip at the root of saidarms.